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“Every April 24 is a special day. This April 24, the first April 24 of the post-war period, saw a clear and special international resonance. This year, the day was marked by the expression of very strong support to the Armenian people by the international community,” Armenia’s Acting Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian told a joint news conference with Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis in Yerevan on Monday.

He noted that high-ranking delegations had arrived in Armenia despite the coronavirus restrictions to honor the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims, adding there were messages from many of Armenia’s international partners, including at the highest level.

"Recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide is important not only for restoring truth and historical justice, but also in terms of physical security of the Armenian people,” the minister underlined.

Aivazian said that he fully agrees with the idea expressed in U.S. President Biden's statement that the international community should take practical steps to prevent the recurrence of such international crimes in the future.

“Armenia is one of the forerunners in promoting the international agenda of preventing and condemning genocides, and President Biden’s message is a huge contribution [to these efforts],” he said.

Reflecting on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s letter to the Armenian patriarch in Istanbul, in which he said that Turkey is ready to establish “good-neighborly relations with Armenia based on mutual respect”, Ara Aivazian said: "We are familiar with the letter of the Turkish president and the readiness expressed in it, but I must say that we value deeds, rather than words, which we have made very clear.

“There were similar messages in the past, there was even a signed joint document, which, however, did not succeed. I would like to reaffirm that we value deeds, not words.”